To root or not to root

I love playing with my android phone but at the moment I do not have root access so this limits me greatly. The main reason I want to root at the moment is to remove the HUGE amount of bloatware on my s4 and to start looking into custom roms and cpu tweaks. I read ALOT and I am starting to understand quite a bit about what is involved. There are still a couple of answers I can't find on the net so I thought I would ask here BEFORE rooting my phone.

Firstly - I have heard all about custom roms and it is my understanding that they take place from the stock firmware. Im sure I can find the cynogenmod rom somewhere on the net (which is what I want to use as I have heard great things) but how do you install this. I am sure you could do it with clockworkmod which I intend to install but I thought I would ask first.

Second - If I decide to stay stock while rooted is it best to use clockworkmod or just use mobile odin to update new firmware?

Thirdly - if I decide to get a custom rom, can I still use launchers like nova launcher? and programs like uccw?

Fourthly - If I have a problem with my phone and unroot and use triangle away (following tutorials I have researched) will I get warranty back. In other words if my counter is back to zero and I am running stock firmware is there any other way they can tell the phone has been rooted?

Lastly - if I want to use a custom rom do I need to unlock the bootlocker? I don't know much about this yet so if I do I would rather root and use stock firmware until I am confident to proceed.

This should probably be in the root section, but irregardless. If you are on ATT or Verizon and the newest firmware available, you cannot install custom recovery and therefor cannot install custom ROMs. But all the information you need is on xda-developers.com. That is where the vast majority of ROMs are, and they are categorized by phone, if you get a ROM for the galaxy s4 but not the correct carrier, that could permanently brick the phone. But with all custom ROMs, most apps work, like launchers etc. If you go with cyanogen, you lose the touchwiz framework and will lose the multiwindow and IR blaster functionality etc., unless they have found a way to include it. I personally dont know because I dont recommend getting a galaxy s4 if youre going to lose the touchwiz framework

now triangle away is something i have but have not used it yet. it should work and restore everything. If someone is really worried about having something happen and losing warranty, I generally dont recommend flashing ROMs because, if something does go wrong, youre out a lot of money. That said, I think its pretty safe to install ROMs, I've done it to every android device ive owned and never had a hard brick, but it is not a guarantee.

This should probably be in the root section, but irregardless. If you are on ATT or Verizon and the newest firmware available, you cannot install custom recovery and therefor cannot install custom ROMs. But all the information you need is on xda-developers.com. That is where the vast majority of ROMs are, and they are categorized by phone, if you get a ROM for the galaxy s4 but not the correct carrier, that could permanently brick the phone. But with all custom ROMs, most apps work, like launchers etc. If you go with cyanogen, you lose the touchwiz framework and will lose the multiwindow and IR blaster functionality etc., unless they have found a way to include it. I personally dont know because I dont recommend getting a galaxy s4 if youre going to lose the touchwiz framework

now triangle away is something i have but have not used it yet. it should work and restore everything. If someone is really worried about having something happen and losing warranty, I generally dont recommend flashing ROMs because, if something does go wrong, youre out a lot of money. That said, I think its pretty safe to install ROMs, I've done it to every android device ive owned and never had a hard brick, but it is not a guarantee.

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So it would be best for a beginner to root and stick with stock firmware until better educated. I think I will do that especially if there are less possibility of problems. So is it best to use clockworkmod to update latest firmwares for my specific carrier and country or Mobile Odin?

So it would be best for a beginner to root and stick with stock firmware until better educated. I think I will do that especially if there are less possibility of problems. So is it best to use clockworkmod to update latest firmwares for my specific carrier and country or Mobile Odin?

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If your looking to stay current with updates, there would be 2 options to take advantage of.

1) once a rom is made available with the newest update, flash that rom via clockworkmod or twrp (custom recovery)

2) flash the stock recovery onto your device to take the official OTA update. However doing this method will cause you to lose root.

What carrier are you with so I can move this to its appropriate root forum?

Yea the carrier makes a big difference. With att and verizon youre actually having to unlock the bootloader, which makes a big difference. But if you read through the faqs on xda for whichever carrier you have, read through several threads, and know how to use odin if something goes wrong, then you should be fine. But i wouldnt recommend it to anyone who has not done a good bit of reading. I do think custom ROMs make android much better, but i like recommending people to read a lot before they actually do any of it. Rooting is really not a big deal though

I dont know what all the differences are from telus and att, im pretty sure some ROMs work without any changing, some probably need a different kernel, im not really sure cause i never looked in to it. but all the information is there

Firstly - I have heard all about custom roms and it is my understanding that they take place from the stock firmware. Im sure I can find the cynogenmod rom somewhere on the net (which is what I want to use as I have heard great things) but how do you install this. I am sure you could do it with clockworkmod which I intend to install but I thought I would ask first.

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A custom ROM does indeed completely replace the stock firmware. You will need to install a custom recovery first and this means unlocking your bootloader to be able to root. The basic order is:

Second - If I decide to stay stock while rooted is it best to use clockworkmod or just use mobile odin to update new firmware?

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One of the most useful things you can do with a custom recovery like ClockworkMod is make nandroid backups. This will back up everything except your internal SD card and external SD card so if you manage to cock something up or just don't like the new ROM, it's a simple matter to restore the most recent nandroid backup and you are back where you started. I would definitely recommend ClockworkMod recovery or TWRP rather than just using Mobile Odin.

Fourthly - If I have a problem with my phone and unroot and use triangle away (following tutorials I have researched) will I get warranty back. In other words if my counter is back to zero and I am running stock firmware is there any other way they can tell the phone has been rooted?

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I believe that the S4 has hardware called an eFuse that would allow your carrier to tell if you had installed a custom ROM but I'll admit I'm a bit hazy about the details with this.

Lastly - if I want to use a custom rom do I need to unlock the bootlocker? I don't know much about this yet so if I do I would rather root and use stock firmware until I am confident to proceed.

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Yes.

I suggest you take this step by step. Root first. Once you are comfortable with that you can move on to installing a custom recovery again, once you are comfortable with that (including making and restoring nandroid backups) you can go the whole hog and install a third party ROM.

Ok let me update my last post. I provided an incorrect link. I misread your carrier thinking you said Telus instead of what you actually said, and linked you to the wrong forum. Someone pm'ed me and pointed this out. You will need to look in the correct forum for your device

so is this my model - Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 LTE (just asking because there is a cynogenmod rom for this model if it is mine and I would love to have this rom over the omega - I didn't know cynogenmod was supported for this model)

Please help me understand my phone model so I download the correct files

so for cyanogenmod I would have to download for an international s4 is that right?

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Be advised that the CyanogenMod ROM for the GT-i9505 is still only at the Nightly stage and probably will be so for some time yet before it graduates to a Release Candidate or Stable release. As the name implies, these are nightly released, experimental builds for developers, not intended for stable daily use and may not have all features working correctly. See the disclaimer in post #1 of my link.

Ironass I could have used that information last night Tried to install cyanogenmod rom 10.2 for international 19505. Had a BIG scare. I am using twrp as it looked easier to use. The install failed and the phone would not boot. Managed to get into recovery and tried to recover my last backup but it just sat on archive for a long time. Not sure how long I am meant to wait at that stage but after about 10 minutes of sitting on that one particular point I pulled the battery and booted to recovery again. Luckily I had downloaded and transferred the omega rom to my phone prior to all this. I managed to install the omega rom but the wifi would not work. I ended up having to flash a different kernel (I used the faux123 kernel) and that solved the wifi issue.

Can anyone recommend a better rom that has been successful on the international gt19505 model s4?

Also is faux123 kernel any good or is there a better kernel to use to fix the wifi issue.

If I wanted to try clockworkmod now how do I go about flashing over twrp. Is there something I have to do first to remove twrp. What are your thoughts on twrp?

Also when finding the correct omega rom it was for the gt-19505 and stated my baseband version ie 19505-XXUBMH1. Why when you look for the cyanogen mod do you only need to know that the phone is a gt19505 international version.? Are you meant to know the addition information when searching for a rom because most only state - compatibility gt-19505 lte. And some just say Gt - 19505 and give no variants so how are you mean't to know which is for your specific model half the time. PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND THIS, UNTIL I DO I CAN'T REALLY EXPLORE THE WORLD OF CUSTOM ROMS

I know I am asking ALOT of questions but this is my first time using ANY of these programs and I have never rooted before so all of your help has been greatly appreciated.

Tried to install cyanogenmod rom 10.2 for international 19505. Had a BIG scare. I am using twrp as it looked easier to use. The install failed and the phone would not boot. Managed to get into recovery and tried to recover my last backup but it just sat on archive for a long time. Not sure how long I am meant to wait at that stage but after about 10 minutes of sitting on that one particular point I pulled the battery and booted to recovery again.

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CM prefers CWM over TWRP. That is mentioned in the CM forum and on this ATR forum, here, 2 days ago.

Luckily I had downloaded and transferred the omega rom to my phone prior to all this. I managed to install the omega rom but the wifi would not work. I ended up having to flash a different kernel (I used the faux123 kernel) and that solved the wifi issue.

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The Wi-Fi problem is a well known one with Omega ROM and there are 6 pages of posts in their forum devoted to the topic. You should always do a nandroid backup before flashing a new ROM.

Can anyone recommend a better rom that has been successful on the international gt19505 model s4?

Also when finding the correct omega rom it was for the gt-19505 and stated my baseband version ie 19505-XXUBMH1. Why when you look for the cyanogen mod do you only need to know that the phone is a gt19505 international version.?

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Custom ROMs based on stock Samsung firmware show the build they are based on. CM is not based on stock ROM builds and therefore does not show this.

Are you meant to know the addition information when searching for a rom because most only state - compatibility gt-19505 lte. And some just say Gt - 19505 and give no variants so how are you mean't to know which is for your specific model half the time. PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND THIS, UNTIL I DO I CAN'T REALLY EXPLORE THE WORLD OF CUSTOM ROMS

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There are currently 18 different models of the S4... 18 Galaxy S4 models - know yours?. Therefore it is important that you choose the right version for your model. All custom ROMs will show which model they are for if you read it.

TIP: Before flashing any custom ROM... read, read and read some more.

There is a sentence that appears at the bottom of every Dummies Guide...